rectangular, decorated in cream, green, pink and black on a crimson ground, depicting three cusped compartments forming a trellis design, each enclosing poppy blossoms flanked by curved, serrated leaves, mounted
141 x 48.2 cm.

Footnotes

In the 17th Century, Kashmir, with its shawl weaving tradition, produced the majority of flower-style rugs in Northern India. The lattice and blossom design can be see on Mughal architecture under Shah Jahan, for example on the ceiling of the Aramgah in the Red Fort, Delhi, dating to 1639-48. A painting of Shah Jahan receiving price Auranzeb in the Diwan-i 'Amm, Lahore, in 1642 shows a lattice and blossom carpet in the foreground (Robert Skelton et al., The Indian Heritage. Court Life and Arts under Mughal Rule, pp. 44-45, no. 68. A date in the second half of the 17th Century at the end of Shah Jahan and the beginning of Aurengzeb's reign is indicated by the increased stylisation of pattern and reduction in the scale of the floral motifs relative to the overall carpet size, creating a more ornamental appearance than seen on earlier carpets.

For an example of a carpet of identical design in a private collection that was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see Daniel Walker, Flowers Underfoot. Indian Carpets of the Mughal Era, Exhibition Catalogue, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 20th November 1997 - 1st March 1998, pp. 112-16, cat no. 32, fig. 114), previously sold at Sotheby's (Sotheby's, Fine Oriental and European Carpets, New York, 10th and 11th April 1981, Lot 516); and another example is discussed by Ellen Smart and Daniel Walker, Pride of the Princes: Indian Art of the Mughal Era in the Cincinatti Art Museum, Exhibition Catalogue, Cincinatti, 1985, pp. 86-7, no. 63.

Saleroom notices

The carpet pile is sheep's wool and not pashmina as stated in the catalogue. The structure is of silk and cotton.

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- Islamic and Indian Art
- Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art

A fine Mughal "Lattice and Blossom" pashmina Carpet Fragment Northern India, Kashmir or Lahore, second half of 17th Century

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Oliver White